iHVf 


PAW. 

wise. 


The  Evangelization  of  the 
Mohammedan  World: 

Some  facts  and  statistics  showing 
unaccountable  neglect  and  unpre¬ 
cedented  opportunities. 


JZ 


“The  sword  of  Mohammed  and  the  Koran  are  the  most  stubborn  enemies 
of  civilization,  liberty  and  truth  which  the  world  has  yet  known.’’ 

— Sir  Wm.  Muir. 


“And  who  is  he  that  overcometh  the  world,  but  he  that  believeth  that  Jesus 
is  the  Son  of  God  ?  ”  — I  Jno.  5:  5. 

“Father,  the  hour  is  come;  glorify  thy  Son  that  the  Son  may  glorify  Thee.” 

—John  17:  i. 

v 


(Prepared  for  the  Student  Volunteer  Convention,  Nashville,  Tennessee,  1906) 


The  Evangelization  of  the  Mohammedan  World 

in  this  Generation. 

A.  B. 


(According  to  the  Statesman’s  Yearbook.) 


■m t*  Snic  /  Turk- 
13  mil.  ish. 

8  mil. 

Indian  Languages 

62  millions  Hausa 

fe  /’  '  4-  and  African^ 

28  millions 

f  Bengali 

IS® 


Chinese 
20  mil. 


LANGUAGES  SPOKEN  BY  THE  MOSLEMS 


(Approximate  Division.) 


G. 


WiMmi ' 


. 

190  Millions 


SUNNIS 


APPROXIMATE  DIVISION  OF  THE  MOSLEM 
WORLD  BY  SECTS 


,  V  • 

e„A'ri“ 

60  Millions 


135  Millions 

■  '"j> |/'lj . j."  I  ■ .. .  %  *  ^  1,“.  ■ 

1-7  of  Total  Population 


CONTINENTAL  DIVISION  OF  THE  MOSLEM 
WORLD  POPULATION. 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN  WORLD. 


Total  Population.— The  total  population  of  the  Mohammedan  world 
is  variously  estimated.  The  following  are  the  most  recent  estimates : 


Statesman’s  Year  Book,  1890 _ 203,600,000 

Brockhaus’  Convers-Lexikon,  1894 _ 175,000,000 

Hubert  Jansen’s  Verbreitung  des  Islams,  1897 _  259,680,672 

S.  M.  Zwemer  (Missionary  Review),  1898 _  196,491,842 

Algemeine  Missions  Zeitschrift,  1902____ _ ' _  175,290,000 

H.  Wichmann,  in  Justus  Perthes’  Atlas,  1903 _ __  240,000,000 

William  E.  Curtis,  in  “Syria  and  Palestine,”  1903 _  300,000,000 

Encyclopedia  of  Missions,  1904 _ 193,550,000 


On  this  basis  a  conservative  estimate  would  be  a  total  of  200,000,000, 
and  the  diagrams  on  the  opposite  page  show  the  approximate  division  of 
this  population.  Each  circle  stands  for  the  total  Mohammedan  population 
of  the  world,  and  the  several  segments  show  geographical  location,  lan¬ 
guages,  sects,  and  politics. 

Moslem  Sects. — Islam  is  not  a  unit,  but  is  divided  into  many  sects 
and  schools  of  thought.  The  Sunni  sect  is  the  old  orthodox  party  and  has 
four  divisions.  All  agree  in  doctrine,  but  differ  in  their  interpretation  of 
ceremonial  law  and  jurisprudence.  Central  Asia,  Northern  India,  and  the 
Turks  everywhere  are  Haniftte\  lower  Egypt,  Southern  India,  and  the 
Malay  Moslems  are  Shafite ;  upper  Egypt  and  North  Africa  are  Malikite, 
while  the  sect  of  Hanbalites  exists  only  in  central  and  eastern  Arabia. 

The  Shiah  sect  exists  chiefly  in  Persia  and  India,  but  the  influence  of 
its  teachings  has  penetrated  everywhere  and  resulted  in  the  philosophical 
disintegration  of  Islam.  Mysticism  (the  Dervish  orders)  and  Rationalism 
(New  Islam)  are  widely  prevalent  and  increasingly  powerful  movements. 
So  also  is  Babism  in  Persia  and  Quadianism  in  the  Punjab. 

Large  Regions  Still  Wholly  Unoccupied. — 


Moslem  Population. 

Afghanistan _ 1 _ _ _ 4,000,000 

Baluchistan _ • _  500,000 

Sulu  Archipelago  and  Mindanao _  250,000 

Southern  Persia _  3, 000 , 000 

Southern,  Western  and  Central  Arabia _  3,000,000 

Bornu  (Lake  Tsad) _ r _  5,000,000 

Wadai  (Central  Africa) _  2,600,000 

Baghirmi  (Central  Africa) _  1, 500 , 000 

Sokoto  and  feudatory  states _ _  14,000-, 000 

Sahara  and  French  Soudan _ _■ _  10,000,000 

Bokhara  region _ _  2, 500 , 000 

Russia  in  Caucasus  1 _  2, 000 , 000 

Khiva _ 700,000 

Russia  in  Central  Asia _  3, 000 , 000 

Siberia,  East  and  West _  6,100,000 

China  (unreached  sections) _ . _  10, 000 , 000 


Estimated  total  of  wholly  unreached  Moslem  populations.  68,150, 000 

That  is  over  one-third  of  the  Mohammedan  world! 

The  Present  Crisis. — Islam  is  not  only  strong  in  numbers,  but  is 
conquering.  It  is  increasing  numerically  to-day  in  India,  Burmah,  the 
Malay  Archipelago,  and  especially  in  West  Africa,  Uganda,  the  Congo  Free 
State  and  Northern  Abysinnia.  In  Burmah  the  census  proves  an  increase 
of  thirty -three  per  cent  in  the  last  decade.  In  the  Philippines  there  are 
250,000  Moslems.  Pastor  F.  Wurtz,  of  the  Basel  Mission,  in  a  recent  pam¬ 
phlet,  sounds  the  alarm  of  a  “Mohammedan  Peril”  to  the  native  church,  as 
well  as  to  many  pagan  districts,  in  West  Africa.  The  situation  on  the  Gold 


Coast  is  alarming.  In  one  village  a  native  preacher  and  his  entire  congre¬ 
gation  went  over  to  Islam!  *  The  Rhenish  Mission  in  Sumatra  has  resolved 
that  its  chief  task  now  is  “to  occupy  in  time  those  heathen  districts  which 
are  in  danger  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  Islam.”  The  crisis  only  empha¬ 
sizes  the  need  and  the  opportunity. 

Strategic  Centers  Occupied. — The  following  strategic  points  (includ¬ 
ing  nearly  every  important  city  in  the  Moslem  world  of  over  100,000 
population)  are  already  the  centers  of  missionary  effort  by  printing  press, 
hospital,  school  or  college:  Calcutta,  Constantinople,  Bombay,  Cairo,  Hai- 
drabad,  Alexandria,  Teheran,  Lucknow,  Rangoon,  Damascus,  Delhi, 
Lahore,  Smyrna,  Cawnpore,  Agra,  Tabriz,  Allahabad,  Tunis,  Bagdad,  Fez, 
Aleppo,  and  Beirut.  And  the  efforts  there  carried  on  directly  or  indirectly 
for  Moslems  prove  that  the  work  is  possible  under  all  conditions  everywhere. 
But  from  every  one  of  these  centers  the  call  is  loud  for  more  laborers. 
Nowhere  are  the  efforts  at  all  commensurate  with  the  opportunities. 

Results. — The  Bible  has  been  translated  into  every  language  of  the 
Mohammedan  world,  while  the  Koran  speaks  only  to  those  who  can  read 
Arabic — less  than  one-fourth  of  the  total  population.  A  large  number  of 
books  especially  intended  for  Mohammedans  has  been  prepared  in  all  the 
chief  languages  of  the  Moslem  world.  Less  than  a  century  ago  there  was 
not  one  Protestant  worker  in  any  Moslem  land ;  at  that  time  apostacy  from 
Islam  meant  death  to  the  apostate.  Now  there  are  Moslem  converts  in 
every  land  where  work  has  been  attempted,  fanaticism  has  decreased  and 
many  converted  Moslems  are  preaching  the  Gospel.  In  North  India  there 
are  nearly  200  Christian  pastors,  catechists  or  teachers  who  are  converts  or 
the  children  of  converts  from  Islam.  There  is  hardly  a  Christian  congrega¬ 
tion  in  the  Punjab  which  does  not  have  some  members  formerly  in  the  ranks 
of  Islam.  Thousands  of  Moslem  youth  are  receiving  a  Christian  education 
in  Egypt,  India,  Java  and  Sumatra.  The  Beirut  Press  since  its  foundation 
has  issued  over  a  million  portions  of  the  Arabic  Bible.  In  ten  years  the 
attendance  at  the,  dispensary  of  the  U.  F.  Church  of  Scotland,  near  Aden, 
rose  from  8,000  to  40,000  per  annum.  Villages  that  could  not  be  reached 
safely  in  Arabia  ten  years  ago  now  welcome  the  missionary.  At  Julfa, 
Persia,  on  Easter  Sunday,  1902,  there  were  seventeen  converts  from  Islam 
at  the  Holy  Communion,  and  this  land,  with  other  Moslem  lands,  counts 
its  martyrs  to  the  faith.  The  late  Dr.  Imad-ud-din,  formerly  a  Moham¬ 
medan  and  a  determined  opponent  of  Christianity,  enumerated  117  Chris¬ 
tian  converts  of  distinction  in  India  who  forsook  Islam  for  Christ  as  he  did. 
In  Sumatra  and  Java  there  are  over  16,000  converts  organized  into  churches. 
The  outlook  everywhere  is  not  hopeless,  but  hopeful,  and  the  great 
task  to  which  Christ  calls  his  church  at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth 
century  is  the  evangelization  of  the  Mohammedan  world. 

— S.  M.  Zwemer. 


*  A  prayer*  * 

O  Lord  God,  to  whom  the  sceptre  of  right  belongeth,  lift  up  Thyself,  and 
travel  in  the  greatness  of  Thy  strength  throughout  the  Mohammedan  lands  of 
the  East;  because  of  the  anointing  of  Thy  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  as  Thy  true 
Prophet,  Priest  and  King,  destroy  the  sword  of  Islamt  and  break  the  yoke  of 
the  false  prophet.  Mohammed  from  off  the  necks  of  Egypt,  Arabia,  Turkey, 
Persia,  and  other  Moslem  lands,  that  so  there  may  be  opened  throughout  these 
lands  a  great  door  and  effectual  for  the  Gospel,  that  the  Word  of  the  Lord  may 
have  free  course  and  be  glorified,  and  the  veil  upon  so  many  hearts  may  be 
removed,  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord.  Amen. 


— C.  M .  S.  Cycle  of  Prayer. 


